Vauxhall Movano Review: Price, specs & load capacity

If your business needs a large van with vast space and a massive amount of versatility and flexibility, then the Vauxhall Movano has plenty going for it. With lots of choice over length, height, body style and powertrain, along with a vast array of off-the-shelf conversion and customisation options available at source, there should be a Movano to suit you and your business.

That depends entirely on your needs. The Movano can be used for all sorts of different business applications, and what you’re using it for will govern which of the vast variety of different versions will suit you best. As a general rule of thumb, we’d advise choosing a van that’s as small as you can get away with, because that will limit your purchase prices and running costs. Just don’t overdo it and lumber yourself with a van that’s too small for you to be able to conduct your business quickly and easily.

If your business takes you all over the country, you’ll be wanting one of the punchy diesels. If your work takes place exclusively (or mainly exclusively) in the local area, and you have somewhere to charge it, then you can significantly cut your running costs by choosing the battery-electric version of the Movano.

There are a handful of large vans that are very much like the Vauxhall Vivaro: in fact, they’re pretty much identical mechanically, and more-or-less identical in appearance. These are the large vans from other brands within the enormous Stellantis manufacturing stable, including the Citroen Relay, the Peugeot Boxer and the Fiat Ducato.

Those aren’t the only large vans on the market, though. The full-size Ford Transit plays rival, as does the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, Volkswagen Crafter, Renault Master, Nissan Interstar, and Iveco Daily.

Commercial vehicle interiors tend to focus more on durability and functionality than they do on outright poshness: after all, during your working day, you want a cabin that’ll resist marking and wipe clean, rather than one that’ll look posh for five minutes before it gets scuffed up forever. So, the swathes of hard plastic found in the cabin of the Movano aren’t just acceptable, they’re totally understandable and thoroughly appropriate. Everything feels solidly constructed, and the cabin feels like it’ll withstand years of hard daily use.

That’s not to say that the Movano feels totally utilitarian, though. Some of the surfaces are cleverly textured so that they look a bit posher than they really are, while the switches work with neat precision.

Early Movanos were offered in Edition and Dynamic trim levels. The former was very basic, with just a DAB radio, Bluetooth and USB ports, while the Dynamic got a 5.0-inch colour touchscreen with integrated navigation. We never got to experience either system, though.

On present-day Movanos, the standard infotainment system you get depends on what type of fuel your Movano uses. As standard, diesel models get a five-inch colour multimedia touchscreen display with Bluetooth, DAB, a USB connection and voice control. The electric models get all that, except the touchscreen is swapped for a seven-inch item, the voice control is swapped for Siri/Google Assistant, plus you get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as well. As part of the package, the EV version also throws in automatic climate control in lieu of the diesel’s manual air-con. 

There’s a difference with your driving instruments, too. Diesel models get traditional dials with a 3.5-inch digital display in the middle, while the electric version has a seven-inch digital instrument cluster instead.

However, we’ve seen none of that, because all Movanos we’ve driven have been fitted with the optional infotainment upgrade. This brings a 10-inch touchscreen with navigation, Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, wireless phone charging, a full digital cockpit display, and automatic climate control.

It’s actually pretty easy to use by modern standards, purely because it’s a bit more basic than many of the ludicrously complicated systems you come across nowadays. Not all the menus are totally intuitive, but you get used to them with practice, so navigating the system isn’t too hard.

It would be unforgivably glib of us to simply say that, yes, an enormous vehicle like the Movano is very practical, with shedloads of loadspace. So, allow us to put a little meat on the bones for you.

Essentially, the Movano can be a variety of vehicles to suit a variety of different uses. It can be had in a variety of different body configurations: a panel van, a chassis cab, a double cab chassis and a platform cab. It can be had in three lengths (L2, L3 and L4), three heights (H1, H2 and H3), and in two different Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) options (3.5 tonnes and 4.25 tonnes). Go a few years back in time, and even more length and GVW choices were offered, but these have since been discontinued and are too numerous to go into here.

In all versions of the modern-day Movano, the load width between the wheel arches is identical at a little over 1.4 metres. However, depending on the height and length options you choose, your load bay can be between 1.6 metres and 2.2 metres tall, and between 3.1 metres and 4.1 metres long. Even the smallest iteration (the L2 H1) has a load volume of 10 cubic metres, while the biggest version (the L4 H3) packs a whopping 17 cubic metres of cargo capacity.

In terms of payload, the precise permissible figure of your van will depend on its size and powertrain. For the electric version, the very smallest version has a payload of just 710kg, but otherwise, the figures sit between 1,385kg and 1,770kg, with most versions sitting at around the 1,400kg mark.

Viewed generally, the diesels will lug a bit more. The lowest payload figure for one of these is 1,235kg, but again, 1,400kg is more like the norm, while the biggest figures you’ll see total a whopping 2050kg.

If you need to tow, which you might well, then the EV versions are rated to pull a braked trailer of up to 2,400kg. On the diesels, towing weights range between 2,250kg and 3,000kg, depending on the version.

On all Movanos, you get twin doors to get access to your loadspace, and these can open up to 180 degrees to improve access. You also get a single sliding door on the nearside of the van, giving excellent access, while a second sliding door on the other side can be added as an optional extra. You get illumination in the load bay as standard, and the floor of the load bay is finished in bare metal.

In the cabin, you get three seats side-by-side, and the generous width of the vehicle means that three burly colleagues will sit in reasonable comfort without having to get too cosy with one another.

If you’re after a combustion-engined Movano, then the vast majority of versions are powered by a 2.2-litre diesel engine with 140PS. This is available with either a six-speed manual gearbox or an eight-speed automatic transmission.

The manual is really all you need. The engine is brawny and eager right off the bottom of the rev range, so it builds speed at a very decent rate without you having to work it crazy hard. And to be honest, if you do feel the need to work it, then the acceleration comes at a rate that feels like too much for a vehicle like the Movano.

The vast bulk of the big Vauxhall means you might need to make a downshift when the traffic in front of you slows up, but that’s to be expected and is not much of a hardship. The automatic transmission, meanwhile, is smooth enough that you don’t really notice it going about its business (always a good sign with an automatic transmission) and it seems to do a decent enough job of keeping the engine within its power band, but without over-revving it.

There’s also a 180PS version of the 2.2 diesel, but we haven’t tried it yet. Neither did we ever get to try the 120PS and 165PS versions of the same engine that have now been discontinued.

If you’re considering an electric Movano, early pre-2024 examples had a 120PS motor and a 75kWh battery, but we never got to try this version. During the 2024 facelift, the electric powertrain was completely overhauled to feature a much larger 110kWh battery, and an electric motor with a power output of 279PS.

And you might be surprised by quite how sprightly this version feels. There are three driving modes - Power, Normal and Eco - which serve up varying levels of acceleration, depending on whether that’s your immediate priority, or whether you’d prefer to maximise your range (the car starts in Normal mode by default, but you can switch things up or down from there). In all of the modes, your off-the-mark acceleration is really strong, maybe even unnervingly strong in a vehicle as massive as this. In Power mode, your on-the-move acceleration is also really strong so prodigious pace is never far away. In truth, we can’t really see why you’d want to go this fast in a large van like the Movano.

Remain in Normal mode, and your acceleration is a fraction more measured in both regards, but compared with Power mode, you’ll notice the bigger difference in your on-the-move pickup, which is markedly more gentle, although still brisk. In Eco mode, your off-the-mark acceleration feels barely any weaker than in Normal mode, but your on-the-move pickup becomes gentler still, and your top speed is limited to 56mph. Even in this mode, though, you’ll seldom feel like you’re left wanting for pace.

If you’re considering an electric Movano, there are some important things to take into account. Early examples had a modest 75kWh battery, and the official WLTP range was given at just 154 miles.

Electric Movanos from after the 2024 facelift do much better. These have a large 110kWh battery pack (that’s total capacity, 97.8kWh of it is usable), which gives an official WLTP range of between 235- and 262 miles, depending on the version. That’s quite a lot compared to most electric vans.

As always with electric vehicles, though, this figure should be treated very much as a best-case scenario, and you’ll do very well to replicate this laboratory-gleaned figure in the real world. And that’s if you’ve got an empty load bay: stick some weight on board and you’ll have no chance. You’ll also see your range readout tumble in cold weather, and if you undertake too many motorway miles, neither of which are things that EVs like.

The 2.2-litre diesel engine gives off that typical black-pump clatter as you build speed, and it can get pretty loud with lots of revs on the dial. However, because it’s quite brawny, you don’t have to rev the merry hell out of it to pick up speed at a reasonable rate, so it doesn’t often get too noisy. 

The noise of the engine melts away into the background on a constant throttle at a steady motorway cruise, too. It will pipe up again if you ask for more acceleration, but again, the level of the noise is rarely problematic. You will feel vibrations from the diesel engine coming through the steering wheel and pedals at pretty much all times, though, and the gearshift in the manual model is a touch notchy and imprecise. The automatic gearbox slushes through the ratios fairly smoothly, too, and without too much of a delay. Obviously, the electric version doesn’t have a gearbox at all, and predictably, the electric motor makes very little noise.

Wind noise at motorway speed is surprisingly well suppressed given the Movano’s blunt shape, but it might well be more that it’s drowned out by the road noise rumbling away from underneath you, which is unfortunately, slightly overbearing. It begins at moderate speed, and by the time you hit the motorway limit, you’re raising your voice to be heard by the passengers who are sitting right next to you.

To help protect occupants in a smash, the present-day Movano comes with a driver’s front airbag and double passenger airbags. Do be aware, though, that in early Movanos, only a driver airbag was standard, and the other two were an optional extra. 

Early Movanos didn’t have much in the way of driver assistance systems to help prevent that smash happening in the first place, and of the ones it did offer were optional extras. Later on, though, driver aids such as a lane support system (which comprises a variety of lane-related aids), traffic sign recognition, driver drowsiness detection, and intelligent speed assist were all made standard.

For a little bit of further protection, you can add the optional City Plus Pack, which provides blind spot assist, rear cross-traffic alert, plus 360-degree parking sensors and a digital rearview mirror.

However, it’s interesting to note that while other mechanical identical large vans from within the Stellantis stable are available with level 2 autonomous driver aids such as adaptive cruise control, this tech isn’t offered on the Movano.

The Movano has achieved the Gold standard in Euro NCAP’s Commercial Vehicle safety ratings, which is the second-highest accolade you can get behind the Platinum standard. This sounds all very impressive but becomes slightly less so when you consider that almost every van ever tested has achieved one of the top two levels. Indeed, only one van has ever been given the Silver rating, and no van has ever been given the Bronze rating.

If you’re considering an early example of the e-Relay, then Citroen says that the version with the 37kWh battery will need around six hours to take on a full charge from a regular 7.4kW AC home wall box charger, while the 75kWh battery will take around 12 hours. If you need to charge more quickly when you’re already on the move, then Citroen says that a sufficiently powerful public DC rapid charging station will take around an hour to deliver a 0-80% charge on both versions (which is confusing given the considerable difference in battery size). That’s due to a rather modest maximum DC charging speed of just 50kW.

If you’re considering an example from after the 2024 facelift, however, then the picture changes significantly due to its much bigger 110kWh battery. The considerable extra capacity, while also bringing a lot more range, will also mean that the battery pack will take much longer to replenish on a domestic wall box charger; Citroen gives a figure of 16 hours and 40 minutes.

However, the facelift also brought a significant hike in maximum DC charging speed, so in the unlikely event that you can find a powerful enough charging station running at its full potential, the facelifted e-Relay can take on charge at a rate of up to 150kW. At that speed, that same 0-80% top-up can be delivered in just 55 minutes, despite the extra battery capacity. 

Do bear in mind, of course, that DC chargers cost way more to use than charging at home, so shouldn’t be relied upon on a regular basis. As a ballpark, a full charge at home will cost either £11 or £21 on the pre-facelift e-Relay depending on which battery you have, and around £31 on the post-facelift one: that’s all assuming that your domestic power is billed at the UK’s national average price. Power that comes out of DC public rapid chargers, meanwhile, usually costs around three times that price.

The HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index, run by our sister website, is our go-to source of reliability data where cars are concerned, but unfortunately, the study doesn’t cover vans.

Nevertheless, you might be alarmed to find Vauxhall languishing in stone-dead-last in the manufacturer standings for overall customer satisfaction (out of 29 brands considered). However, the firm didn’t find itself on the list of the 10 least reliable manufacturers in the study, so it would appear that buyers’ complaints about their Vauxhalls lay in other areas, and it’s also true that van drivers would probably be less fussy about such details than car drivers.

It’s often said that electric vehicles are simpler than combustion-engined ones due to the fact that they have far fewer moving parts, so there’s less to go wrong and they need less maintenance. Well, that’s at least partly blown out of the water by the Movano, because the electric versions need to be serviced every year or 16,000 miles, whichever happens first, while diesel versions only need routine maintenance every two years or 32,000 miles.

All Movanos come with a three-year, 100,000-mile mechanical warranty, while on BEV versions, the battery is covered by an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty.

If you’re getting yourself a diesel-powered Movano, then there’s one variant of it (L2H1) that sits in insurance group 37 (of 50, 50 being the most expensive), and all others sit in group 38.

Go for the electric Movano, and the one variant with a 3,500kg Gross Vehicle Weight sits in group 39. All other electric Movanos, which have a 4,000kg GVW, sit in groups 43 or 44.

If your Movano has a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of 3,500kg, which most of them do, then you pay the flat rate of VED road tax for Light Goods Vehicles (LGVs), which currently stands at £335 per year.

If the GVW of your van is more than that, though, things become a bit more complicated because your vehicle is taxed as a Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV), which carries much more variation. The best thing to do is to check the vehicle’s V5C document for your van’s tax class, and then check online or with the DVLA.

Early Movanos came in a couple of different trim levels, known as Edition and Dynamic. Edition versions were a bit too basic: there was no air-conditioning (an absolute must if you’re spending several hours per day in your van), no rear parking sensors (another must in a vehicle as massive as this) and only a very basic infotainment system. Dynamic trim righted these wrongs, so if buying used, that’s the one you want.

As of the 2024 facelift, the Movano comes in a single key trim level, known as the Prime. This provides rear parking sensors, cruise control, electric windows, and twin-lens door mirrors with heated and electrically adjustable upper section.

From then on, the spec is different depending on whether you choose a diesel model or an all-electric model. The diesel has manual air-con and a basic infotainment system, while the EV has automatic climate control air-con and an upgraded infotainment system (see infotainment section for details). The EV also has a digital driver display and an electronic parking brake.

A wide range of options is offered, along with a bunch of option packs, allowing you to spec your van up to the nines if you so wish, and if your budget allows. However, adaptive cruise control isn’t offered, even if you’re prepared to pay extra, which is strange when it’s offered on other large vans from within the Stellantis Group that are mechanically identical to the Movano.